“This is one of maybe three or four volcanoes in the whole world that when you go up to the crater you can see lava. This one you get to the top and you look down, and yep, there’s a lava lake down there – you can see it bubbling,” Mickus said. “Recently, the floor of the crater has risen 90 feet and there has been stuff shooting out of the volcano.”
Mount Erebus is classified as active due to its frequent Strombolian eruptions – an eruption of light, magma and rocks that happens after bubbles are formed due to a buildup of gas – but it has infrequent ash eruptions and historically rare lava flows. Actually, the lava flow for decades has been confined to the inner crater. Mickus noted that it’s thrilling work, but he hasn’t really been concerned about a destructive eruption.
That all may change, though. The volcano hasn’t erupted since 2011, but it’s near two scientific research bases (McMurdo Station and Scott Base), so it is monitored regularly for safety precautions. Another research team conducted seismic research of Mount Erebus a few years ago and found some regions that indicated it was hot. So Dr. Phil Kyle, a scientist from New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology who has studied in the region for approximately 40 years, invited Mickus to join the team in 2012.
Using a gravity meter on loan from the Department of Defense, Mickus’ primary focus in Antarctica is conducting gravity readings on Mount Erebus to determine any changes in the magma levels and confirm the seismic results.
“We want to understand more about the whole volcanic system,” said Mickus. “We’re looking to understand the sub-surface type things and trying to understand the magma system underneath… Different rocks have different densities, and we can determine that to get an idea what’s underneath the surface.”
Approximately six miles deep inside the crater lays a mass of magma, noted Mickus. With the gravity meter, he hopes to determine the movement pattern of that magma or definitively say whether there is heat conducting near the surface. This heat source has caused a unique and dangerous geological feature to form – ice caves.
Mickus researched in Antarctica again in November and December of 2013, and currently is writing proposals to continue his studies with the hope of taking a student research assistant on a future trip.
Growing up, Sobel enjoyed learning about history and the natural environment. “I have always been interested in the human past,” she said. “The field of anthropology, specifically the sub-field of archaeology, brought all my interests together. Archaeologists investigate the human past by studying the material remains of past human activity.”
Sobel, who recently co-authored several chapters in the book, “Chinookan Peoples of the Lower Columbia” and has received several grants for work on the Trail of Tears, has long been excited about working on projects involving indigenous and marginalized social and ethnic groups.
Almost from the start of her career, Sobel was drawn to the study of indigenous Americans. “Some of my earliest experiences in that area occurred when I was in college, when I did an internship with the National Park Service at the Little Big Horn National Monument in Montana, where I got to know some Crow, Cheyenne and Lakota people.” During college, she also interned with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Nevada, in the homeland of Paiute people. These experiences helped her see the benefits of partnerships between archeologists and the descendants of people they study, a practice she has continued with her other projects.
Bringing out a people’s past in ways that haven’t been told completely, or honestly, is one way of bringing about greater equality today, according to Sobel.
“A broader interest I have is trying to help bring to light the heritage of traditionally marginalized social, ethnic and cultural groups – indigenous Americans, African Americans, uneducated immigrants, all of which is a broader movement in recent decades in anthropology, history and other fields. That is an area that is especially appealing to me because it has so much relevance to people today.”
Closer to campus, Sobel, along with graduate and undergraduate students, has been exploring these issues among Greene County pioneers. Part of this project involves the archaeology of two nearby sites – the Nathan Boone homestead in Ash Grove, Missouri, and the McKinley farm in Walnut Grove, Missouri.
The work focused on spatial layout of the sites, the buildings and other structures, as well as graveyards. Sobel’s group, with the assistance of Dr. Kevin Mickus, MSU professor of geology, used ground penetrating radar to reveal underground items, including several graves that were hidden by time. Some of those interred were likely slaves, and buried with them, some of the history of African Americans in southwest Missouri.
“Looking at the trajectories of McKinley family members, as well as of people who were slaves under McKinley, and their descendants gives us insight into race relations and African American heritage in this region.” – Dr. Elizabeth Sobel
Although southwest Missouri did not have large slave populations, there were some slave owners. One of the larger operations in the area was the McKinley farm, where Sobel conducted her 2013 archaeological field school. During the pre-Civil War period, Henry McKinley owned about 900 acres of land and held about 15 slaves. Sobel’s field work involved attempting to locate slave quarters at the site. Because there is not much of a written record from an African American perspective from that era, archeological evidence can yield unique information about slaves’ daily lives.
While she hoped to find evidence of slave quarters at the McKinley site, she and her students were unable to do so. “It was somewhat disappointing, but not unexpected,” Sobel said. “Slavery did not occur on a large scale in southwest Missouri. Sometimes owners and slaves would live together. Or, owners would initially build a small, basic structure for themselves, and later move into a larger house while using the earlier structure as slave housing.” Buildings often had minimal foundations and were made of wood, according to Sobel, and re-used for many purposes thereafter, so little or nothing remains from the original structure as archaeological evidence.
Nonetheless, by combining what written records exist from the antebellum period, along with oral history and artifacts gathered from these and other archaeological sites, researchers can provide a clearer picture about the lives of African Americans as well as Euroamericans during this period.
“Looking at the trajectories of McKinley family members, as well as of people who were slaves under McKinley, and their descendants gives us insight into race relations and African American heritage in this region.”